[PS1] Chrono Cross - "Dream of the Shore Near Another World" by Brawler4Ever

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Other
Game: Chrono Cross
Console: PlayStation
Title: Dream of the Shore Near Another World
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Brawler4Ever

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Brawler4Ever]

Reference:

My notes:
1) I can't figure out how to make the correct tempo marking. It should be ♩ = 86, but the ♩ won't appear on the file (according to my computer anyway). It just shows a rectangle. Not sure how to fix that.

2) The first measure should be cut in half; whether that means making it 2/4 or just cutting off a part, I'm not sure. In either case, it is beyond the abilities of Notepad.

[Maelstrom]

5th post since 2011. Oh my.

[AwesomeYears]

Change his name to Smash4Ever.^{It's suppose to be a pun if you haven't noticed}

[Bespinben]

1) I can't figure out how to make the correct tempo marking. It should be ♩ = 86, but the ♩ won't appear on the file (according to my computer anyway). It just shows a rectangle. Not sure how to fix that.
2) The first measure should be cut in half; whether that means making it 2/4 or just cutting off a part, I'm not sure. In either case, it is beyond the abilities of Notepad.

I can handle that stuff for ya.

Music-wise:
*Needs measure numbers (Notepad can do that)
*Stems of vocal layer should face in opposite direction of the melody layer (ex: you have them both facing upwards at m. 8  )
*I would recommend writing the LH accompaniment in two layers, for two reasons: (1) The accompaniment consists of two separate instruments (bass and acoustic guitar), and; (2) In piano notation, this would also give the implication that the sustain pedal should be used, something this song could really use in the arrangement.
*Remember to always show beat 3 (ex: last measure has dotted quarter, dotted quarter, quarter... when it should be dotted quarter, 8th-tied-quarter, quarter)

[Tobbeh99]

1) I don't know if that text "Vocal is played softly, the melody should be given emphasis" is necessary for two reasons. First is that it's implicitly well known that you always should emphasize the melody. Second is that unless you've heard the theme and know it well, you have no clue of knowing what the "vocals" are, if you want to keep the text, I would change it to something like "emphasis on melody", or "emphasis on melody in soprano" and maybe consider moving the text to measure 4/5(first measure being a pickup measure). I think it would be more clearer what you mean that way.

2)The rhythm of the LH accompaniment is a bit questionable, especially since it's 4/4(would actually be the correct way of writing that if it was 2/2). Maybe you should write as 8th-16th-16th -tie- 16th-16th-16th-16th and at certain places like 2nd measure(first measure being pickup measure) 3rd 4th beat: 8th-16th-16th -tie- 16th-16th-8th. I'm not certain if this needs to be fixed so I let others share their opinion on the case first.

[Brawler4Ever]

Can we attach stuff? Or is that just for Zeta? Anyway, here is the updated version of the song. EDIT: I also updated the submission. Zeta's MUS version is now up-to-date.

Here is a list of updates, from most easy to most difficult:
-removed "emphasis on melody" text.
-Added measure numbers
-changed the direction of the stems to always face up. I think? It's consistent now, anyway.
-fixed the last measure to be quarter dot, eighth-quarter, quarter
-changed time signature from 4/4 to 2/2. I can change it back, if necessary.
-added the tempo marking thing

My arrangement does not currently include the bass guitar at all. For my playing level (which isn't much, tbh), I couldn't play both at the same time. So I chose to go with the acoustic guitar alone in the left hand. However, I have no problem with adding it in as a second layer. I assume that's what you meant, bespin?

Concerning your comment, tobbeh, I'm not proficient enough in piano to notice the visual difference between two tied 16th notes and a single 8th note. I'm sure that that is important, but for me it's nonintuitive. Again, I can add it in, no problem, but I can't guarantee that I will get it right the first time.

There was also nothing that I could do with the first measure. I could maybe change the time signature from 2/4 to 2/2 (or 4/4) and then continue, but I'm fairly certain that that is not the correct answer to this problem.

Also, huge shout outs to whomever suggested MuseScore in the Help Section! It's been a great help with this arrangement! And thank you all for your feedback!

[Tobbeh99]

Here's an example of what I mean by the rhythm:[ZIP]

You can see that in 4/4 I've tied the note to show the second beat. However I wouldn't do this in a 2/2 because there is no beat there, it's only 2 beats, I did also include a section in 2/4 so you can compare the difference between the time signatures (which is rather small).

Since you changed the the time signature it's no longer an issue.

[Brawler4Ever]

Thanks for the explanation! I figured from what you said that changing the time signature would solve the problem, and I went with that, rather than messing it up.

[Bespinben]

I've kind of made it a tradition of mine to "man-handle" at least once the sheet of a user I've never gotten to critique before. This way, I feel like you can see the ideal form of what an arrangement could look like, and model accordingly for future sheets (thus preventing me from enacting further privacy invasions ).

[MUS] [MIDI] [PDF] [MUSX]

One of the big things I did with this was to break up the acoustic guitar between the LH and RH. This way, you're not jumping everywhere with the arpeggiations, so it's more efficient. You'll also notice that the 2nd layer of the LH is a VERY simplified form of the bass guitar raised an octave higher. This way it doesn't feel like you're trying to manage two instruments at the same time, which was your major concern. Finally, it's usually good practice to write a short ending for songs that infinitely repeat. You don't have to do this all the time, but if we didn't here, that would leave the last measure before the repeat in a system all by itself, which doesn't look good since the notes would be terribly stretched out.

[Tobbeh99]

Wow some interesting shapes on the cross-staff notes. Anyway, a couple of things:
1) Maybe add "sempre con ped." or "con ped.", or is it too obvious??
2) Measure 5, the fingering "4" is colliding with the tenuto line.

Also good job with the ending, was thinking the same thing: that it would be nice if this beautiful song had a nice little composed ending.  

[Bespinben]

1) Maybe add "sempre con ped." or "con ped.", or is it too obvious??

I used to write "con pedale" myself all the time, but lately...

(2) In piano notation, this [having separate layers] would also give the implication that the sustain pedal should be used, something this song could really use in the arrangement.)

...so in other words, the 2nd layer bass essentially acts as a pedaling chart.

2) Measure 5, the fingering "4" is colliding with the tenuto line.

Oh! Good catch. It might seem odd this is the only place I wrote fingerings, but I think most the song is pretty straightforward for the most part. The finger crossing here made me think otherwise for the section.

[Brawler4Ever]

Wow! Thanks! I can hardly recognize it now! You've done an awesome job!

Wow some interesting shapes on the cross-staff notes.

I thought the same thing when I first saw it.

I think that it looks amazing. Thank you so much for your help! As for your "privacy invasion," I don't mind it at all! I want to help make NSM be the best that it can be, and I am more than willing to let another "man-handle" (as you put it) my work to make it so! Thank you!

[Bespinben]

Glad to help! I just worry about unintentionally creating BespinSheetMusic when I do that, but the fact that you don't mind puts me at ease. I tend to do it most when things haven't happened on the submissions board in awhile and I just get tired of waiting for stuff to happen (not that you're guilty of that, I just mean in general )

[Zeta]

This submission has been accepted by Bespinben.

~Zeta, your friendly NSM-Bot